Back on the Boat Again  

 

October 19th – October 22nd   

 

On Monday, we picked up our one-way rental car and stuffed it full of things to take back to the boat.  We got to Green Turtle Bay around dinner time and unpacked the car, but once again, went to bed with boxes all around us.  The next day, it took us 4 hours to return the car to Paducah, run some errands and do our grocery shopping.  We then spent the rest of the day putting everything away on the boat.  It was frustrating, but luckily, we finished just in time for  -- guess what  -- Happy Hour!!  Yes, we are back on the boat again!  We met up with another Krogen Manatee owner and had cocktails with them and others at the dock.  

 

The next day we left and traveled about 40 miles. I was quite a bit “out of sorts” and needed to readjust to the boat life.  Roger drove the whole way and later in the afternoon we called ahead to Paris Landing Marina.  They told us they were closing at 4 p.m., but we were welcome to take a 72’ slip and settle up with them when they got back there in the morning around 8 a.m. 

 

We had hot dogs and beans for dinner (my second time cooking in 5-1/2 weeks now) and started to watch a DVD, but I fell asleep at 8:30 and we went to bed at 9.  So we were ready by 7:15 a.m. the next morning to leave the dock.  Too bad the marina staff didn’t get there earlier – we had no one to pay for the slip.  I think I like boating in the off-season.  Oh well!

 

Today we traveled 50 miles.  It was overcast and cool most of the day.  The Tennessee River is very pretty, and winds around quite a bit.  We are actually going “up river”, so the current is against us for a total of 190 miles.  We are still managing to average about 6 miles an hour.  (When I think about it, I realize this is a far cry from the red Alfa Romeo in Sicily.)  The foliage is just starting to turn color down here.  Roger spent about a ½ hour watching a pair of bald eagles soar along the treetops on the shore.  Otherwise, it was an uneventful day, thank God!  We are staying at another marina, called Cuba Landing.  We might even pay for the slip this time!  Tonight I’m going all out and I’ll make stir fry and rice.  

 

We are getting the hang of this boating life again.  I had no idea that I would have such an adjustment this time – reading the charts, handling the radios, putting out the lines, fenders and handling the boat -- all come to Roger so naturally – but it’s an effort for me for awhile.  We hope to meet up with our friends from Barefoot Shoes soon.  Rae and Steve Mason are a few days ahead of us, and we hope to catch up to them by the weekend.  We really lucked out in the beginning of the trip by meeting some terrific people.  I hope that we will all meet up with each other along the way again soon.  

     

 Back Home Again in Indiana – to a houseful of moving boxes!

 

October 11^th – October 19^th   

 

We were reunited with our dog Louie, after almost 2 weeks.  Our friends, Bob & Dee Hendrickson, were terrific to take him.   They even trained him on the piddle pads, which will help us out on those long cruising days!  And Bob made a prop for Louie out of PVC fittings that is like a fire hydrant, so maybe he will be able to “go” on the boat after all. 

 

It felt good to be home.  Needless to say, after 15 years in a big house, it’s an adjustment to live in this townhouse.  The biggest thing for me is the kitchen.  You would think that after living on the boat for a month, any “real” kitchen would be sufficient.  I admit I am spoiled, but we must have been ready for this move without even realizing it.  Other than the 3-level setup, we could probably stay here.  The area is fantastic, everything is so convenient and the development is beautiful.  Especially attractive is the fact that we don’t have to take care of the grounds – I mean, just imagine experiencing Fall when someone else is responsible for picking up the leaves!  When we were in Europe, we got an email from our realtor the day after we had closed on the Indianapolis house.  He wanted to know if we knew why the sewage pump alarm would be going off.  We included a home warranty policy with the sale, so guess what – it’s someone else’s problem!  We have no idea where we will buy next.  But what a good feeling, knowing that we have the boat trip ahead of us in a few days.

 

While we were “home”, Roger worked for 2 days that week.  And I spent the week unpacking and getting settled.  We were able to meet up with friends for dinners at night.  We saw Brett and Kelly, got caught up on the wedding, the new house they are building and made a visit to the yacht club to see if that would be a potential place for their wedding.  This is going to be something to really look forward to!

 

We went to Travis’s hockey games in Bloomington.  On Friday night, the game didn’t even start until 9:15 p.m.  We got home at 1:30 in the morning!  We went back down to Indiana University for Saturday’s game and Travis was going to come home with us, BUT he ended up staying there to celebrate the team’s win over Davenport University, a major upset.  What a great game, and Travis came away with a goal and an assist for the weekend!

 

Travis came home on Sunday and I not only had to give him directions, but he didn’t even have the address.  I think he was in shock – what an adjustment.  It also could have been the after-effects from the previous night’s party.  But he liked the townhouse and the area, and especially my homemade sauce and meatballs and chocolate pie.  This was the first time I had cooked since we left the boat in 5 weeks!  I sent Travis back to his apartment with lots of leftovers. 

 

And the next day, we left too --- to resume our trip south on the boat! 

 

 Trip to Europe

 

Tuesday, September 29^th – Saturday, October 10^th

 

The first and last part of our trip was all business – 3 days in Germany, Cologne and Walhstedt (near Hamburg), and then 3 days in Italy, outside of Milan.  Everything went exceptionally well during the business phase of the trip and the 6 days were extremely productive.  There was only one evening of a tourist/social nature, and this was more than we even expected.  Our host from Grundfos Italy took us to the center of Milan via the Metro.  We walked up the steps from the station and were awestruck by the Duomo, the cathedral.  He arranged for a one-hour guide to explain the history of the area to us and then we had a wonderful dinner.

 

In between Germany and Milan, we took a long weekend and went to Sicily.  We flew into Catania and rented a car.  Fortunately, it had a GPS, but we still drove around Catania for ½ hour looking for a highway entrance that was not blocked off!  We drove about 45 minutes north of Catania to Taormina, where we stayed for 3 nights.  I was holding on for my life as Roger was speeding up the mountain on two wheels in our rented Alfa Romeo, RED of course.  Geez, does he always have to drive so fast?!

 

When we arrived in Taoromina, the streets were - narrow - one way -  and full of pedestrians.  The GPS told us we’d arrived at our hotel, but it wasn’t right.  No hotel.  We drove around and around.  Once we found ourselves on this REALLY narrow street, and here’s the conversation in our car:

 

Karen:  “Rog, you can’t go down this street.  It’s too narrow.”

 

Roger:  “Karen, I have to.  There’s 3 cars behind me.”

 

Karen:  “Oh my God, our car won’t fit, we’re scratching the side!”

 

Roger:  “Pull in the mirrors, we’re going!”

 

We ended up in someone’s private driveway, down a steep hill, and had to back out.  It was kind of funny, even when the nun came out and yelled at us in Italian.  I had a feeling that this was going to be an expensive rental return!  I was seconds away from calling the hotel to ask them to send a driver to pick us up.  We finally asked a policeman for directions – surely, he would know where the Hotel Carlotta was!  And he did.  The hotel was great, situated on the mountain facing the Ionian Sea.  What a beautiful view.  We loved Taoromina, and we walked and walked and walked.  (There was no way we were taking that car out again, well, until the next day.)

 

The next day was Sunday and we had made arrangements with a cousin, Giuseppe Sorrentino, that I had never met, to meet us at a highway exit near Piazza Amerina, Sicily.  That is the town where my paternal grandmother grew up, and where the majority of her family still lives.  We met Giuseppe and his father and uncle and joined his mother and aunt for a visit to Villa del Castale, a Roman ruin that has mosaics dating back to 300 A.D.  It was amazing – the artwork and sophisticated infrastructures of this development from ancient times.

 

Then we went to a restaurant out in the country to meet the rest of the family.  They were so excited that they kept calling Giuseppe on his cell phone to ask about us.  When we arrived at the restaurant, everyone was outside waiting for us.  Giuseppe introduced us to each person and we kissed everyone – twice – once on each cheek.  Roger said he has never kissed so many men in his entire life as he did on this day!  My cousin Lino Sorrentino who lives in Venice helped set this up but couldn’t be there and warned Roger it would be like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”!   Ha, ha, he was right!  

 

We were completely taken aback by this family of mine.  There were about 35 people there and everyone wanted to talk to us, but only 3 people spoke English and I could only pick up a word here and there of Italian.  Roger actually picked up quite a bit, and poor Giuseppe had to do the translating and was starting to speak Italian to us and English to the family!  They showed us pictures of when my parents visited 16 years earlier and when my brother Bill visited in 2001.  It struck me that my grandmother got married (in an arranged marriage), left Sicily in 1931, pregnant with my father, traveled alone on a boat to New York to join my grandfather, never to see her family or her home country again.  How sad.  But her family seemed as if they had seen her only yesterday and they loved her, even though they didn’t know her.  And by extension, I felt the love from them too.  

 

We had an incredible Sicilian FEAST.  You have no idea how much food there was -- antipasto, pasta, another kind of pasta, 4 different kinds of meat – lamb, chicken, veal and sausage – potatoes, vegetables, salad and rum cake for dessert.  (Rum cake was my mother’s favorite dessert.  So between seeing the photos of my parents and enjoying the rum cake, I had happy and sad moments.)  Roger and I were also served some special cannolis as the guests of honor.  We had to take them with us because we were so full!  After this 4-hour lunch (!!), we went to the house where my grandmother lived and visited a beautiful church in Piazza Amerina.  The streets here were not designed for cars either.  Luckily, we followed Giuseppe.  We had several invitations to stay there at family’s homes, but we had to get back to Taormina.  Next time we will speak enough Italian to be able to talk to my family and will plan to stay there longer so that we can get to know them.  What a joy they are!

 

The next day, Monday, was our last full day in Sicily and we made the most of it.  We left the hotel early and went to Mt. Etna.  It is an active volcano, and erupted as recently as last year, 2008.  We took a tram part of the way up the mountain and then took an off-road bus up to about 3000 meters.  There we were able to walk around the rim of one of the craters from a previous eruption in 2006.  There were no fences up and it was completely barren.  In fact, steam was still coming up through the ground and when we picked up the rocks, they were warm.  It was a fantastic experience and we were so glad we did it.  

 

On our way down the mountain, we stopped at a small family-owned winery, the Gambino family.  The guy from our hotel said they were not related to the crime family, but aren’t all Italians related?  The very handsome son gave us a personal tour of his winery and then 2 tour groups arrived and we joined them for a tasting and some antipasto.  What a delight!  

 

Next stop that day was Giardini Naxos, a town along the Ionian Sea.  We walked along the beach and wished we had 3 more weeks here.  What a great trip – business and personal!   To top it off, we had accumulated so much dirt from the trip to Mt. Etna, that when the rental car guy inspected the car, he said, “Bene, bene!” and waved us on.  He never even saw the scratches on the mirrors and side of the car!!